


The benefits of late-night conversations

by Mirror_Face



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Late Night Conversations, Many dark implications, Maybe comfort, Sorry but it's 3 am, Talking, kind of angst, not edited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24586771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirror_Face/pseuds/Mirror_Face
Summary: “Are you okay?” Was what Maki asked first, because that was important.“Of course!”“Then why did you call me?”“Uhh… Well… I…”“Just get to the point.”He gave her an oddly crooked smile, “I guess I just wanted to talk to someone. Face to face, y’know?”Maki sighed and glared, her feet scuffing the ground. What an asshole, calling her out so late at night just to talk…She pushed her way past Kaito and walked into his house, somewhat surprising him.(Late night conversations won't fix a thing, but at least they feel a bit better about everything- even if it's just for the moment.)
Relationships: Harukawa Maki & Momota Kaito
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	The benefits of late-night conversations

**Author's Note:**

> Condolences sent from my 2 am brain

Maki could hear violent coughing from the other end of the phone, both moist and dry at the same time. She winced as she heard Kaito attempt to clear clogging blood from his throat.

“Where are you?” She asked, tempted to roll her eyes.

“Ah, y’know, the usual.”

“You mean your apartment?”

More coughing. “Yeah… there…”

“I’ll be there soon.” She paused, wondering if she should say more. Comfort him or something. Nothing good came to mind though (something she blamed on the fact that it was almost midnight), so she just hung up the phone.

There was a ‘ _beep_ ’ and her small apartment was covered with a thin veil of silence. Maki almost wanted to stay there forever, never moving and at peace. Where she could imagine that the world wasn’t as chaotic as it actually was. One second later, that thought diminished- replaced with concern and dulled panic.

Maki rushed out the door, only one arm into her jacket.

* * *

In all honesty, she had probably knocked harder than she should have (Kaito’s front door wasn’t meant to tremble under her fist), but her hands were starting to shake and she didn’t know what else to do. Maki shivered in the night’s cold, her jacket too flimsy and useless to protect her from the shuddering, winter winds.

She heard coughing coming from inside the house. There was nothing she could do but wait.

“Yeah! Comin’... I just…” Whatever else Kaito had said was muffled by the door.

Maki was tempted to knock again, to rush him. In the end she didn’t though, because that would probably make Kaito think that she was worried. And if he thought that then he would go on a spiel about why she _shouldn’t be worried_ , and it was probably a bad time to punch him. Instead, she just tapped her foot and glared bitterly at the door, tips of her fingers turning numb.

Finally, after several minutes of anxious waiting and terrible sounds of Kaito hacking his lungs (and probably his heart) out, the door was opened. Maki refused to let out a sigh of relief.

Kaito looked terrible. His hair was a mess (still partly gelled despite how late it was), for some reason his sweatpants were rolled unevenly (his left leg only halfway covered while his right was completely down), and he had very clearly just wiped blood from his chin.

“Are you okay?” Was what Maki asked first, because that was important.

“Of course!”

“Then why did you call me?”

“Uhh… Well… I…”

“Just get to the point.”

He gave her an oddly crooked smile, “I guess I just wanted to talk to someone. Face to face, y’know?”

Maki sighed and glared, her feet scuffing the ground. What an asshole, calling her out so late at night just to talk…

She pushed her way past Kaito and walked into his house, somewhat surprising him. She turned her head to look back at him, giving him a questioning look.

“Uh… yeah…” He closed his door and, rather clumsily, maneuvered over to where she was standing, “Make yourself at home!”

“I’ve already been here before, idiot…”

“Hehe, whoops.”

Maki walked past his kitchen and over to his dining table (which had three chairs situated there). She sat down, and Kaito followed suit.

“So?” 

Kaito cleared his throat and let out a dry cough (Maki may or may not have unintentionally winced), he scratched the back of his neck. “I mean… I-I dunno.”

“What do you mean by _that_?”

“It’s hard to explain. I don’t actually have anything to talk about- I just wanted to see you I guess.”

“It’s been a while.” Is all she said, too tired to even be annoyed.

“Yeah. I, uh, I miss Shuichi too.”

“He’s doing fine.”

“I know! And I’m proud of my sidekick, putting all of his genius to good use in the detective business!” Maki could almost imagine Shuichi blushing at such high praise, “But it feels weird not havin’ him around. Like, we chat over text and stuff but it’s not the same.”

“Yeah.” It was pretty weird not having Shuichi as close by as he had been for years. She was starting to miss him a lot. Their group just felt empty, especially with Kaito being so sick…

Maki pushed down the sudden urge to break out into sobs.

“Kaito... “ She started then paused, not knowing what she was going to say, “Are you afraid of being left alone?”

It was a weird question. A stupid one. Something that would totally drag the perfectly normal mood down.

It was a very necessary question.

“Huh?” His back stiffened and his fists tightened, “No way! I’ll never be lonely, not even in the darkest trenches of…” He trailed off.

“You can’t go to space, Kaito.” Because someone had to say it, and comfort was more of Shuichi’s thing than her’s.

“I know!”

“I’m not going to leave you, Kaito.” Because that also had to be said.

“ _I know_.”

“I hope you do.”

Kaito stared at Maki incredulously, “Do you know?”

“Know what?”

“That I won’t leave you.”

She scoffed, “That’s stupid.”

“Why?”

Maki didn’t say anything back, because if she did then it would become real, wouldn’t it? The words would decompose into the air, turning into poison that would bitter the entire world. Maki bit her tongue so hard that it bled, metallic and strong inside her mouth (she tried not to think about how Kaito’s mouth was probably stained with that taste). 

“Maki,” Kaito said, sounding serious (and wasn’t that odd? Kaito never sounded serious), “I’m not going to die.”

He stared straight at her. Her eyes lingered on the table.

And she huffed, deciding to let Kaito fool her one last time (she could suffocate on reality later), “Good.”

Kaito grinned brightly, lips edged with dull exhaustion, “The luminary of the stars won’t ever die from something so silly!” He flashed her a thumbs-up.

Maki doesn’t even try to hide her smile.

(Kaito’s body shuddered as he held back a terrible cough. They tried not to let it bother them too much)

**Author's Note:**

> I feel so bad that I have stuff to do and I'm just like "ha ha, random conversation". Sorry...
> 
> (but I have no regrets)


End file.
